Throughout life, if anything is constant it is change and the course of life just does not comprise only happy and successful moments. The journey to success is always accompanied by hardships. Time and again we have witnessed that those who endure rough paths and travel the less traveled road achieve great accomplishments. In this tale, we are going to talk about one such confident and erudite leader who went against all odds and led her way to greatness. Tung Yan Ning, Co-Founder & Managing Director of Clazroom College has come a long way. Looking back at her life story, one wouldn’t have envisioned her as one of the most influential figures in Malaysia.
Past in a Glance
Life doesn’t go as planned and those who are destined for greatness work to achieve it. Ms. Tung’s story justifies this above statement, however, the ‘walk of fame’ began on a rough patch. As a kid, Ms.Tung did not like attending schools. “When I was young, I was a difficult child, grew up in a small town of Cameron Highlands. I didn’t like going to school because I didn’t see any purpose of attending them,” she recalls. However, her perception towards education changed when her path crossed with one of her high school teachers and that resulted in the tremendous change of events. “From a difficult, less favored student in school, I became one of the tops all of a sudden, my behavior and beliefs changed as I started to see the purpose and direction. I have won several scholarships and awards nationally and internationally including Japan and China at a very young age, with my teacher patiently guiding me to the correct path,” she says. Her experiences have transformed her; from not believing in education to believing that education has the power to empower and change a person’s life and future, Ms. Tung has come a long way.
Ms. Tung’s transformation as an educational leader began while working as a lecturer in a college. Alongside teaching, she also actively took part in various multimedia art production projects. During this tenure, Ms. Tung was awarded and recognized for her valuable and vital contributions. Winning the IPC award given by Mdec, the Golden Phoenix Women Entrepreneur Award are some of the awards that she gained. The hands-on experience and her contribution in various projects later landed her in some prestigious moments like representing Malaysia to attend conferences in the USA, China and Japan. She has been invited as a speaker of educational talks, such as Ed2 alongside with Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir. While these opportunities honed Ms. Tung’s expertise and strengthened international connections, she observed a disconnection between the industry and education. Envisioning to change this order in the educational fraternity and to offer a better solution to it, Ms. Tung laid the foundation stone for Clazroom College. The institute aims to cultivate and nurture the artistic talents of students. It further propels the career growth of its students by connecting them with the industry and offering them a platform to showcase their talent.
Clazroom College envisions to be a college with an internationally distinguished faculty, hands-on educational programs that are the best in the world. However, through its exceptional learning strategies and programs the college aims to influence the creative industry of Malaysia, and help it become one of the best in the world. “Our mission is to produce highly-employable graduates with international recognition that they may one day serve the creative multimedia arts as industry leaders,” she concludes.
Influencer and Game Changer
Ms. Tung is always enthusiastic about improving the experience of her students and to offer them all the exposure they can get as to ensure that the skills and talents of the students don’t stay hidden or go unrecognized. Working with JPK and SKM to create a new and more effective set up of creative college in Malaysia is one such mere attempt of Ms. Tung and her team of professionals.
“One of our missions is also to train students with the right mindset, a right attitude which will allow them to expand further in their journey of life. We brought in international skills and knowledge sharing with our connections, with collaborations with international institutes such as the New York Film Academy Hollywood USA, Llandrillo University UK, we created international learning platform which enabled the students to expand their horizons while still studying, and preparing them in the same time so that they can go straight to the workforce and start pursuing their dream in their career path,” she comments.
“Our graduates are reputed with high quality in their work and highly motivated. Proven to be able to join the workforce straight away. We have graduates that involved in international project titles such as Street Fighter, Final Fantasy, Pokemon, WarFrames, Duel Masters, at their very 1st job after they graduated.”
Marching Towards a Prestigious Walkway
The Clazroom College standing gloriously and acting as a navigator of student’s dreams was not built in a day. It includes strenuous and hard work of the entire team. There has been no easy road to success it had to be earned. However, the persistence and never giving up attitude of Ms. Tung have encouraged everyone to zealously work until they achieve their goals. “Despite all this, I still have to face a few challenges along my journey. But this doesn’t stop me from achieving my goals,” she quotes.
Along with ensuring that the college serves its purpose, it was also important that Ms. Tung foresees the requirements, working culture and environment of everyone working at the college. Ms. Tung believes that an organization does not run with just one person, it includes team work, and she has ensured that her team mate’s opinions, beliefs, and thoughts are heard. Patience and working along with her team members has helped her grow as an action-oriented, serving and principled educational leader.
“To make sure we can achieve our goals and vision, I need to learn the skills and knowledge of forming and managing an efficient and high performing team and organization. But I endorse challenges, that is how we can push us further to becoming greater,” she asserts.
The steady growth of Ms. Tung is directly proportional to the future of Clazroom College. The college under the guidance of Ms. Tung leaves no stone unturned in offering a better learning experience, create more opportunities for students and to pursue their dreams in the future. Collaboration activities with international studios, companies and institutes, activities and learning programs that will expand students’ intellect, broaden their skills, improve their character, and overcome obstacles, the college is always on the run to offer the best. “We want to expand every student’s horizon, cultivate higher standard talents, so that eventually, to positively influence them and the industry too,” she further adds.
Persistence is the Key
Ms. Tung’s journey shows us that there is no substitute for hard work, and no matter what you do, do it with passion and interest. Ms. Tung always strives to better herself and in the process achieve her goals and she advises the young aspiring minds to do the same. “The secret to an extraordinary life is to demand more from ourselves than anyone else could possibly expect. One of the most important qualities is a relentless commitment to our ultimate goals, with a great sense of passion, purpose, and mission. Stay focused and driven to serve. This is how we can unleash our full potential”, she says.
She also believes that, it is failures that show us the way to success and that using it as the stepping stone, or fuel will guide one to the zeniths of scuccess. “ Use failure as fuel. Mistake is never anything but an opportunity to learn something and become more,” she concludes.